(CBS News) ISLAMABAD - A senior Pakistani intelligence official told CBS News that two people were in custody Friday for suspected links to the shooting of Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old girl whose brave stand against the Taliban has left her in critical condition in a military hospital.

One of the two men arrested was described as an important suspect, but the official would not say whether he was believed to have been the gunman who singled Malala out as she rode home from school earlier this week and shot her twice at close range.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that Malala, who campaigned for years for girls' rights to an education in spite of threats from the Islamic extremist group, remained unconscious and on ventilator Friday. Her condition was described as stable but still critical.

A close friend of family, meanwhile, told CBS News that doctors had given Malala's family a "ray of hope" after seeing MRI scans that showed a bullet entered her skull but did not appear to have caused significant damage to vital parts of the brain.

7. This is the kind of stuff that makes me cry.

All this child wants is an opportunity. An opportunity to better herself and in turn her family in essence be a beacon for all others around her, yes this is unattainable.

For the heartless cowards who did this, I have contempt for you and the blind-hatred which allows you to commit such a senseless act. I also have pity for you, in the sense that you can become so callous. Try educating yourself to the world around you, instead of tearing down others, even to the point of attempted murder.

9. In that region of the world it is intolerable for a female to "want an opportunity".

This is what the misogynists want to suppress. The women must be covered from head to toe so they are nonentities outside their home. They are not allowed to go to med school so they cannot become doctors but the conservative tribal elders do not allow a male doctor to examine them. This is just one example of how severely women/females are suppressed.
I hope Malala and Her Family can eventually be evacuated from that area as the risk to them is so great!

8. Taliban Reiterate Vow to Kill Pakistani Girl (NYT)

The police said Friday that they had made several arrests in connection with the Talibanís shooting of Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old education activist who was critically injured, but militant commanders in northwestern Pakistan reiterated their intention to kill the schoolgirl or her father.